Textile staple tacker



July 11, 1961 o. SEITER TEXTILE STAPLE TACKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJune 1, 1959 INVENTOR. 0 7' To 55/ TER HTTORNEY July 11, 1961 i o.SEITER TEXTILE STAPLE TACKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E1525 Filed June 1, 1959JNVENTOK 07 70 55/721? H T TORNEY 2,991,476 A TEXTIL'E STAPLE TACKEROtto Seiter, Walliugford, Conm, assignor to The Reliable Factory Supply'Company, Waterbury, Conn a partnership Filed June 1, 1959, Ser. No.817,290 3 Claims. (Cl. 1-49) This invention relates to stapling toolsand is directed particularly to improvements in compression staplers ofthe type used in tacking textiles, cardboard, screening, insulation andthe like sheet materials.

Ordinary tacking staplers of the above nature are designed for and canbe used only with one thickness of staple. -It is the principal objectof this invention to provide a stapler having adjustable mechanismallowing its use selectively with different thicknesses of staples.

A more particular object is to provide a stapler of the characterdescribed including a reversible staple guide plate, one side of whichis provided with a guide channel operative with staples of onethickness, and the other side of which is provided with a guide channeloperative with staples of another thickness, and manually operablemechanism for holding one or another selectively of the guide channelsin operative position in the stapler.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description when read with reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals denotecorresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an improved compression staplerembodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view thereof,

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view thereof,

FIG. 4 is a partial front elevational view, on a larger scale than FIG.2, and with the reversible staple guide plate and front guard memberremoved,

FIG. 5 is a partial horizontal enlarged cross-sectional view of thestapler, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction ofthe arrows,

FIG. 6 is a partial enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of thestapler, taken along the broken line 6--6 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the reversible guide plate, shownseparately,

FIG. 8 is a top view thereof,

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the front end portion of the stapler base,shown separately, and

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of the stapler base, shownseparately.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, my improved compressionstapler, designated generally by the numeral 10, comprises an elongatedrectangular base 11 having fixed thereto at one end a curved handle 12,and at the other end a staple guide and compression plunger mechanism13. The lower end of the handle 12 is rigidly fixed against the side ofthe base 11 by a pair of dowel pins 14 and a machine screw 15. Thehandle 12, which is preferably of cast aluminum, has an upwardly andinwardly inclined hand grip portion 16 which extends into adownwardly-curved forward portion 17 terminating in a lateral T-bar 1 8.

The base 11, which is preferably of steel, is formed with a flat bottomsurface 19, upstanding parallel side wall portions 20, 20, and a centralupstanding wall portion 21, of greater height than the side wallportions 20. The upstanding wall portions 20, 20 and 21 of the base 1 1are rectangular in cross-sectional shape, and define, at each side ofthe central wall portion 21, rectangular channels 22, 22 along which theusual stack of aligned strip metal staples S is fed in the mannerdescribed below. The bottom surfaces of the channels 22, 22 are eachprovided with longitudinal grooves 23, 23 (FIGS. 4 and 5) said manuallyoperated means for forcing staples S, one at a grooves being of somewhatlesser width than the width of the channels 22, 22 and extendingsidewardly from the inner surfaces of the side wall portions 20', 20.Moreover,

between the grooves 23 and the center portion 21, a pair of verticalcutouts 23a are employed for allowing accumulated staples to dischargewithout jamming.

The compression plunger mechanism 13 comprises a housing member 24,preferably of cast metal, providing a pair of opposed, parallelelongated base portions 25, 25, the lower ends 26, 26 of which fit intothe grooves 23, 23 of the base 11. Two pairs of machine screws 27extending horizontally through the side wall portions 20, 20 of the base11 and into the base portions 25, 25 of the housing member 24, serve tosecurely hold said base 11 and said housing member 24 in assembledrelation.

The upper ends of the base portions 25, 25 of the housing member 24curve inwardly over the top of the central upstanding wall portion 21 ofthe base 11, as indicated at 28, 28, and the inner surfaces of said baseportions 25, 25 extend in spaced parallel relation to the top and sidesurfaces of said central wall portion 21 to define therewith a U-shapedlongtudinal channel 28a (FIG. 5) from front to back which serves as amagazine and guide means for storing and feeding the staples 8 (FIG. 3)

In order to push the stack of staples S forward automatically to bringnew staples into position after a previous stapling operation, thehousing member 24 is formed at its forward end and above the baseportions 25, 25

thereof with a spring chamber 29 extending transversely,

and through which is a horizontal screw 30 which fixedly supports insaid spring chamber the inner end of a loosely coiled flat spring 31(FIG. 6). The rear end of the spring.

Secured to the free end of the spring 31' is a finger grip member 33having a pusher 34 which rides in the U-shaped longitudinal channel 28aand behind the staple strip stack S (FIGS. 1, 4, 6). end withupwardly-extending tongue 35 which fits into an opening 36 in the fingergrip member 33, whereby the pulling force of the coil spring 31 will becoupled to said pusher for resiliently pushing the staples forward intheir magazine (FIGS. 1, 3). 1

The compression plunger mechanism 13 comprises time, downwardly throughthe front end of the base 11 for stapling. To this end, the housingmember '24 of the compression plunger mechanism 13'is formed with afront rectangular vertically-extending guide opening 37 (FIG. 6) withinwhich is slidingly disposed a vertical rectangular push bar 38 formed atits upper end with a smooth, rounded knob 39. The push bar 38 isprovided with a central, longitudinal slot 40 through which a stop pin41, anchored at each end in the housing member 24, extends to limit theupper and lower extent of travel of said bar.

Fixed against the front face of the push bar 38, as by a rivet 42, andextending downwardly from the lower end of said bar 38, is a flat,hardened staple driver '43 of the same width as the central wall portion21 of the base 11. A coil compression spring 44 surrounding the push bar38', and constrained between the upper end of the housing member 24 andthe underside of the knob 39, normally holds said push bar in itsuppermost position, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The guide opening 37 in the housing member 2 4 is so disposed andarranged that the flat staple driver 43 is in lateral register with thecentral wall portion 21 of the base 11, and passes close by the frontend of said wall portion in face to face relation therewith when theknob 39 is manually depressed, by the palm of the hand for example.

The length of the staple driver 43 is such that when the Patented July11, 196 1 The pusher 34 is formed at its rear knob 39 is fullydepressed, the lower end of said driver will be substantially flush withthe bottom surface 19 of the base 11. It will be understood that whenthe staple driver 43 is in its uppermost position, the lower end thereofwill be in register with a bridge member 45 secured within the housingmember 24 and arranged in spaced relation above the front end of thecentral wall portion 21 of the base 11 to allow free passage of staples.

Means is provided at the front end of the stapler to allow the use ofdifferent thicknesses and sizes selectively, of staples S. To this end,a staple guide plate 46 is provided, either side of which can be securedto the front of the stapler for guiding the driving of two thicknessesof staple strips S. As illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the staple guideplate 46 is generally rectangular in shape and fitted with a pair ofside pins 47 projecting at each side which serve to accurately locatesaid guide plate with respect to the front end of the rectangular base11. For this purpose, the front end of the base portions 25, 25 of thehousing member 24 are provided at each side with cylindrical socketopenings 47a adapted to receive the projections of the side pins 47.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6, the front ends of the base portions 25,25 of the housing member 24 are undercut from the front end of therectangular stapler base 11 to provide a shoulder 48 under which the topedge 46a of the guide plate 46 fits. The vertical side wall portions 49,49 or 50, 50 of the guide plate 46 contact the end faces of the undercutbase portions 25, 25.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, vertical grooves 51, 52 are formed in eachside of the staple guide plate 46, of different depths corresponding tothe thicknesses of staples being used in the stapler. Thus, the slot 51having a depth designated by A, when placed in facing relationshipagainst the front end of the stapler, as described above, could be ofsuch size as to admit a thicker staple, whereas the opposite slot 52,having a lesser depth, designated B, could be placed against the frontend of the stapler and be of such size as to admit a thinner staple.

The staple guide plate 46 is held in place on the stapler in itsselected position by means of a leaf spring 53, one end of which isremovably' secured against the front surface of the housing member '24by a thumb screw 54. The leaf spring 53 is yieldable so as to allowstaples of different thicknesses to be used in the same machine. Awinged guard member 55 fits against the outer side of the staple guideplate 46, and has a pair of openings 56 therein for locating the sidepins 47 of said guide plate. The lower end of the leaf spring 53 bearsagainst the outer surface of the guard member 55, holding it, togetherwith the guide plate 46, in position on the stapler.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in whichthe invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form isshown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention isnot limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified and embodiedin various other equivalent forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications and embodimentscoming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new andfor which it is desired to secure Letters Patent is:

1. In a compression stapler, the combination comprising a rectangularbase member, means for guiding staples along the length of said basemember toward the forward end thereof, a staple guide plate havingvertical slots of different widths on its opposite sides, yieldablereleasable means securing said guide plate against said one end of saidbase member, the vertical slots of said guide plate when it is securedagainst the forward end of said base member, being in communication withsaid staple guiding means, and forming together with said forward end ofsaid base a vertical opening allowing downward passage of staples of twodifferent thicknesses, and manually operable means for verticallydriving a staple through said vertical opening for stapling.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said releasable securingmeans comprises two pairs of pins projecting from opposite sides of saidguide plate, a pair of socket openings in said one end of said basemember for selectively receiving said projecting pins, and leaf springmeans for yieldably urging said guide plate against said base member.

3. In a compression stapler, the combination comprising a rectangularelongated base member, means for guiding staples along the length ofsaid base member toward the front end thereof, a staple guide plate,releasable means for securing selectively one side or the other of saidguide plate against said one end of said base member, the sides of saidguide plate each having a vertical slot which, when facing said basemember in a selected position of said guide. plate, is in communicationwith said staple guiding means, and forms with said one end of said basea vertical opening allowing downward passage of staples of differentthicknesses, and manually operable means for vertically depressing astaple in said vertical opening for stapling, the vertical slots of saidguide plate being of different thicknesses to allow, selectively,staples of different thicknesses to be used in the stapler.

Anstett Dec. 25, 1951 Allen Oct. 28, 1958

